The Darkening: Chapter Twelve

Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harms we do, we do to ourselves.

“Ben, get up.”

Ben wearily sits up in his bed, and gives his father the glare that his Uncle Han taught him last year. Luke ignores it.

“Come on son, there’s been another murder.”

Ben glances at the chrono, noting the horrid hour it reads. “Corran was only six hours ago.”

A sad look crosses his father’s face. “I know. Now come on.”

With that the Jedi Master stands up and walks from the room, his shoulders hunched as if he’s bearing a horrid burden on them. Ben watches for a moment, then gets dressed and follows his father out of the room. Together they walk out the door, and get into Luke’s speeder.

A short trip made in tense silence follows, and Ben considers it none too soon when they land in front of the Academy’s Dormitory. He jumps out of the speeder, and walks to where the crime scene technicians have already set up the ultra-bright field lights.

He frowns slightly as he looks at the shattered form of Kai Andur. Bending down, he closes his eyes and sinks into the Force. When he looks at the body through the Force he is surprised to see how twisted it has become around the body, blackened and corrupted. He opens his eyes once more and notices the slight amount of blood coming from the girl’s nose.

He turns towards the technician and gets a sterile glove, and slips it on his hand. Then he reaches over and brushes the bangs off the girl’s forehead, and sees the blackened burn. “Dad what do you make of this?”

Luke kneels down, and his eyes narrow as he sees the burn. “It looks almost electrical in nature.”

“Something about this just seems so familiar.”

Ben stands back up and looks around the area again; trying to find something, anything that would clear up the confusion he is feeling. Sighing, he walks to the dormitory entrance and makes his way to Kai’s room, hoping to find some clue there.

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Jysella rolls over and looks at the chrono, noting that it is now the time that she should get up to head towards her first class. Instead she rolls back over, the pain of her father’s death slamming into her. She lifts her head and glances at the blanket covering the window where Ben threw him out just a few hours ago. After a second, she plops her head back down on the pillow, closes her eyes and let’s sleep claim her once again.

What feels like moments later, someone is shaking her and telling her to wake up. She rolls over opening her eyes in the process and sees her mother standing over her. When he mother sees her open her eyes, she lets go of her shoulder.

“You have a visitor.”

“Who?”

“Ben.”

Jysella sits up and looks around for her robe, spying it on the chair she quickly gets out of bed and wraps it around her. Then she walks into the other room, wincing at the sun shining through the windows. Ben sensing her presence turns around, and walks over to her.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like death warmed over.”

Ben nods his head and looks down at the floor. “I just wanted to stop by and tell you that I’m sorry about your dad.”

Jysella feels that cold anger grips her again, and pushes it down slightly. “Thanks Ben.”

After an awkward second, he speaks again. “We found Kai dead this morning.”

Jysella covers her mouth with her hand and sits down on a chair. After a second, she starts rubbing her face and then stands up again. “Thanks for telling me. I’ll, I’ll see you later.”

Then she spins and walks away, leaving a confused Ben staring after her as she disappears into her room.

As soon as she latches the door behind her, the Custodian appears. “Does something trouble you?”

“Just my dreams.”

The Custodian nods his head again. “Yes, dreams can be troublesome. Of course I can teach you the power to fulfill your dreams. To ensure they come true, to ensure that you reach and take whatever your desire is. The power to rule everything could be yours.”

Jysella looks at the holocron, a sinking feeling in her chest. “I never wanted power. I just wanted to be liked.”

Then the holocron flashes a deep burgundy and Jysella sees Ben lying on the ground, a lightsaber wound to his stomach. As she watches he struggles to get up, and then limps into a second room. She follows, dragged along by the vision itself. To her horror she sees him surrounded by multiple holocrons, all shooting lightning out at him. He writhes under the onslaught from the devices, his mouthed opened in a scream that she can’t hear.

It seems to her that the attack goes on for hours, but finally the last holocron stills, leaving Ben’s burnt and twisted body smoking slightly on the ground of the room.

Jysella doubles over trying her best to not throw up. She looks towards the Custodian. “I don’t want this to happen.”

A downcast expression crosses the Custodian face. “Nothing can stop that now Jysella.”

Jysella turns to look at the Custodian a sense of disbelief filling her. As her eyes fall on the holocron, she notices the red glow is brighter than normal. She steps forward slightly, and a red mist starts oozing out of the box, and sinuously wraps itself around her legs, crawling up her body.

She shakes her head and starts stepping back, drawing the mist with her. Some slips up under her tunic, burning her skin where it touches, the rest moves along the outside, until it reaches her face at the same time Jysella backs herself into a wall.

When she opens her mouth to scream, the mist darts in, and she is lost to unconsciousness.

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Once more the hunter finds herself looking for prey. This hunt is more dangerous as it is in the midst of the day, the bright sun will reveal her to those who wish to stop her. She calmly walks through the streets, trying to find her prey.

She smiles a feral grin as she sees the arconian girl who is her prey this time. As she watches, she thanks the Force as the prey separates from the group she is with and heads towards the smaller houses on the outskirts of the temple grounds.

The hunter follows, closing quickly, yet with such stealth that most never notice her past. She pulls out the long bladed knife as she nears the girl, and quickly slams it to the hilt in the girl’s side. It is an expertly placed cut, sliding between ribs and severing the heart and lungs.

She smiles as the girl drops to the ground, dead before her knees even began to buckle.

This time Jysella does scream as she wakes. Yet the bright sunshine, and the fact that she’s standing tell her that she’s not in her room. Not wanting to look down, but needing to know exactly what she is holding, she lowers her head and sees the knife from her dream clasped in her hand.

A hand covered in blood.